Kay Christopher Sims

After graduating from San Leandro High in ’65 (Go Pirates!), I went to Chabot College in Hayward and then to UC Davis, where I earned a B.S. in Home Economics and an M.S. in Consumer Science. I became a professor at Yuba College in Marysville, CA, in 1970 and taught there until 2009. In my early years I taught more traditional Home Ec. classes, which included cooking, sewing, and consumer edu. cation. Latter years were more in keeping pace with the times and included nutrition, life management, and parenting. I also taught the parenting class on TV and at a woman's prison in Live Oak. And keeping pace with the times I started teaching nutrition online so we could expand our student base and make classes available to more people.
I married Phillip Sims in 1977 and we had two beautiful daughters, Heather and Amber. Phil and I began investing in residential real estate before they were born and eventually Phil ran the business while I focused on teaching. My daughters (aged 31 and 33) took over in 2007 and passing on the knowledge of the business has kept us all very close. Phil and I separated in 1995 but we’ve remained great friends. He and I take walks around the neighborhood together, and I’ve been helping with his recovery since receiving a kidney from my future son-in-law in early August. Heather will marry Grant in the Caribbean this October and Amber married Johnathan at their home in 2013. Hopefully grandchildren are on the horizon!
I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel to many countries, and Phil and I always took our girls with us when we traveled. In 2007, after my daughters were both out of college, they decided to take a trip around the world together. Unfortunately, two weeks into that trip, a doctor found a benign tumor the size of a tennis ball in my brain, and the girls returned home to take care of me. One brain surgery and 8 months later, after learning how to talk and walk and tie my shoes again, I’ve taken my daughters on many vacations to make up for ending their world tour early. My highlight since then was being on a photo safari in Africa and tracking a mama cheetah and her cubs on foot.
Keeping busy has never been difficult for me, even after I retired. I love to see plays and performances in Sacramento put on by the California music theater. These include the Broadway series and Music Circus performances. I fill my time volunteering with groups like the Western Farm Workers Association and a women educator’s group called Delta Kappa Gamma, visiting and caring for my mother, and recently with renovating our new log cabin in Grass Valley. I still have fantasies that I will get more sewing and quilting projects finished and play my guitar for the wild animals out at the cabin.

kayskatydid@yahoo.com

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